I remember this golden, brown German Shepherd across the street from where my family lived in Ohio. Back then, I was eight years old. As usual, when I was outside playing – riding a bike, enjoying a game of hopscotch or jumping rope – I was with my siblings and friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fear Offers No Comfort<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThere certainly was comfort in numbers. Yet, regardless of how many people were outside, when that German Shepherd (his name was “King”) showed up, people darted. I’m talking teenagers and kids. Folks broke out and headed for cover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of this\nfear over a German Shepherd who had broken his backyard chain again. The more\nintense the fear I was experiencing became, the more angry and helpless I felt.\nI also wanted the dog to just disappear<\/em>,\nmaking it easy for the entire scene to be over. <\/p>\n\n\n\nOh, but, when dogs break loose, they don’t go right back from whence they came. Instead, they explore, peeing on bushes and tree trunks. They also like to kick up dirt with their hind feet, as if to let every other dog in the neighborhood know how big and bad they are. And even if they don’t intend to, they scare a lot of kids. (See these tips on how you could face fear<\/a> and regain your life.)<\/p>\n\n\n\nEver Changing Fear<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nMy fear of “King” disappeared after my family moved to a different neighborhood. But that wasn’t the end of fear for me. After “King”, there were bullies, spooky movies, the nightly news, and a few bad grades that I was very concerned about showing my dad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast forward\nto my adult years, and “King” was far at the back of my memory,\ncertainly no longer something that pulled up fear in me. The 12 year old girl\nI’d been afraid of, the girl I let bully me in elementary school, didn’t even\npop into my mind. She was long gone as it relates to fear, totally in the past.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But don’t go thinking that I stopped choosing fear over love. In fact, in place of big neighborhood dogs, school bullies and a bad report card, there were bills, fear of the unknown, fear of love<\/a>, challenging work assignments and growing numbers of people I knew who were exiting their bodies or transitioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYeah. The things that I chose to allow fear to use to bind me have changed. But that type of change doesn’t mean anything unless I’m choosing love instead of fear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regain Your Life – Choose Love Instead of Fear <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe good news. It’s a choice that I’m paying attention to, practicing awareness so I can choose love. Thing is, fear, as you can see, takes on a myriad of forms. Its content remains unchanged. But the forms that fear uses seem always in motion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oddly, with\nlove, it’s the content that I have long, perhaps always, focused on. Safe, warm\nfeelings, a sense of belonging and conviction that I’m cared for are part of\nlove’s content for me. Doesn’t matter if that content comes through my pet\nturtle, a friend, relative, engaging in my passion (writing) or listening to\nthe smoothest song. If the content is there, I feel it. I appreciate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the\ncontent never changes. It’s one of the things that I absolutely love about love<\/em>. Perhaps it’s time that we all\nfocused more on love’s content and less on fear and its myriad forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\nToward this effort, I wrote a book about what fear did to a town in Memphis, Tennessee. The title of that book is Spiral<\/strong>. Read the book and you may be amazed at how far reaching, twisting, blinding and binding fear can get to be. It’s worse than any virus. Once fear takes root, look out. Or better yet, choose love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, but, when dogs break loose, they don’t go right back from whence they came. Instead, they explore, peeing on bushes and tree trunks. They also like to kick up dirt with their hind feet, as if to let every other dog in the neighborhood know how big and bad they are. And even if they don’t intend to, they scare a lot of kids. (See these tips on how you could face fear<\/a> and regain your life.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n My fear of “King” disappeared after my family moved to a different neighborhood. But that wasn’t the end of fear for me. After “King”, there were bullies, spooky movies, the nightly news, and a few bad grades that I was very concerned about showing my dad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fast forward\nto my adult years, and “King” was far at the back of my memory,\ncertainly no longer something that pulled up fear in me. The 12 year old girl\nI’d been afraid of, the girl I let bully me in elementary school, didn’t even\npop into my mind. She was long gone as it relates to fear, totally in the past.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n But don’t go thinking that I stopped choosing fear over love. In fact, in place of big neighborhood dogs, school bullies and a bad report card, there were bills, fear of the unknown, fear of love<\/a>, challenging work assignments and growing numbers of people I knew who were exiting their bodies or transitioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah. The things that I chose to allow fear to use to bind me have changed. But that type of change doesn’t mean anything unless I’m choosing love instead of fear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The good news. It’s a choice that I’m paying attention to, practicing awareness so I can choose love. Thing is, fear, as you can see, takes on a myriad of forms. Its content remains unchanged. But the forms that fear uses seem always in motion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Oddly, with\nlove, it’s the content that I have long, perhaps always, focused on. Safe, warm\nfeelings, a sense of belonging and conviction that I’m cared for are part of\nlove’s content for me. Doesn’t matter if that content comes through my pet\nturtle, a friend, relative, engaging in my passion (writing) or listening to\nthe smoothest song. If the content is there, I feel it. I appreciate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the\ncontent never changes. It’s one of the things that I absolutely love about love<\/em>. Perhaps it’s time that we all\nfocused more on love’s content and less on fear and its myriad forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Toward this effort, I wrote a book about what fear did to a town in Memphis, Tennessee. The title of that book is Spiral<\/strong>. Read the book and you may be amazed at how far reaching, twisting, blinding and binding fear can get to be. It’s worse than any virus. Once fear takes root, look out. Or better yet, choose love.<\/p>\n\n\n\nEver Changing Fear<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Regain Your Life – Choose Love Instead of Fear <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n